python - Can't get a function to work -

i try create function end game message counting down until ends, , having repeat block of code lot in text adventure game, decided make function of sake of neatness, , efficiency. cannot figure out how define , call such function. code trying execute:

print "that\'s real shame..." time.sleep(1) print 'exiting program in 5 seconds:' time.sleep(1) print '5' time.sleep(1) print '4' time.sleep(1) print '3' time.sleep(1) print '2' time.sleep(1) print '1' time.sleep(1) sys.exit('exiting game...') break 

so defining function this:

def exit():     print "that\'s real shame..."     time.sleep(1)     print 'exiting program in 5 seconds:'     time.sleep(1)     print '5'     time.sleep(1)     print '4'     time.sleep(1)     print '3'     time.sleep(1)     print '2'     time.sleep(1)     print '1'     time.sleep(1)     sys.exit('exiting game...')     break 

and calling function this:

elif ready == 'n':     exit 

what doing wrong?

you call function typing exit(). modified countdown code , turned function called inside exit() demonstrate how call 1 function piece of code.

def exit():     print "that\'s real shame..."     time.sleep(1)     print 'exiting program in 5 seconds:'     time.sleep(1)     count_down(5) # call countdown clock     print 'exiting game...'     sys.exit()  def count_down(number):     in reversed(range(number)):         print i+1         time.sleep(1)  exit() # <-- how call exit, missing parentheses @ end. 

output:

that's real shame... exiting program in 5 seconds: 5 4 3 2 1 exiting game... 

edit: added more in-depth explanation.

the first linedef count_down function takes 1 parameter , has 1 purpose, handle count down.

def count_down(number): 

the second row contains call for loop. purpose of code loop through objects. starting 4 3,2,1 etc. , variable i @ same row change each time loop goes through number , accessible inside loop. first time print executed 5, next time 4 , on.

 in reversed(range(number)): 

in function use 2 additional keywords , 1 parameter, reversed, range , parameter number.

reversed(range(number)) 

range used create list of numbers e.g. [0, 1, 2, 3, 4], statement loop through starting 0, takes next number way until reaches last number 4. explain why starts @ 0 , goes four, , not 5 @ end of answer.

reversed used reverse list created range. since want start @ 4, , not 0.

before reversed => [0,1,2,3,4]

after reversed] => [4,3,2,1,0]

number parameter. parameter value provide when execute function exit() function including value inside parentheses (). in case specified 5, list created range range 0 - 4 (0,1,2,3,4 = 5 numbers in total). if instead specified 10 within parentheses create list starting 0 way 9. , code count down 10 1, instead of 5 1.

when python has started working on for loop execute code inside, starting print , sleep, , continues for each number in list created range. since specified 5 in case, execute code total of 5 times.

as python executing code within for loop first call print function. because loop start @ 4, not 5, need basic arithmetics , increase value of each item loop through one. typing + 1 after our variable i.

the reason why starts @ 4 , not 5 because in programming lists starts number 0, , not 1. there more technical explanation available on reason why lists start 0, , not 1 (or 4, , not 5 in case since reversed list) here